KEELE AND RJAH PART OF MAJOR TISSUE ENGINEERING CENTRE

Arthritis Research UK, The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (RJAH), Oswestry, and Keele have launched  a major experimental  tissue engineering centre which aims to regenerate bone and cartilage by using patients' own stem cells to repair joint damage caused by osteoarthritis.

The exploratory research has the potential to revolutionise the treatment of osteoarthritis, which causes pain and disability to eight million people in the UK. The RJAH, in partnership with Keele, is one of four institutions that make up the new Arthritis Research UK Tissue Engineering Centre.

Within five years, researchers aim to treat early osteoarthritis by introducing adult stem cells and other types of cell into damaged joints, repairing damage through less invasive operations, such as key-hole surgery.

Professor Sally Roberts said: "Every patient has their own 'repair kit.' Whereas joint replacement surgery uses metal and plastic to replace the severely damaged joint, we're trying to treat at an earlier stage and to assist the human body to repair itself."

For more information go to:  www.arthritisresearchuk.org/tissueengineering.

VC AT WESTMINSTER EDUCATION FORUM

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nick Foskett, was one of the key speakers at a major seminar in London yesterday which focused on "The student as a consumer? The next steps for student experience and quality assurance in universities."

As universities prepare for the first applications under the system of higher tuition fees, the seminar brought together key policymakers and stakeholders to discuss the impact of a consumer culture amongst students. They examined the future of quality assurance arrangements, levels of contact time, quality of feedback, the role of Students' Unions, and provision of extracurricular activities and facilities.

Keynote addresses at the Westminster  Education Forum were delivered by Bev Thomas, Deputy Director, HE Access and Quality, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and Anthony McClaran, Chief Executive, Quality Assurance Agency.

GOVERNMENT NEEDS STRATEGY FOR APPROACH TO NUCLEAR POWER - ROYAL SOCIETY REPORT 

The UK government urgently needs to establish a long-term strategy for its planned programme of new nuclear power, according to a major new report issued by the Royal Society yesterday.

Professor Peter Styles, Head of the Applied and Environmental Geophysics Research Group, School of Physical and Geographical Sciences, was a member of the Royal Society Working Group whose report says that despite the government's commitment to nuclear power in the UK, there is still a short sighted approach to planning and research.

The report says the government needs to make this strategic judgement now, to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and burdening future generations with a legacy of spent nuclear fuel.  It is also essential that the UK's new nuclear power programme takes into account the UK's civil stockpile of plutonium, which is the largest in the world, says the report.

RESEARCH LETTER IN NATURE

The Multiple Sclerosis group at Keele, as part of the 'International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium', has been successful in publishing a Research Letter in Nature.

The Keele-based MS genetics group, led by Professor Clive Hawkins and Professor Richard Strange, pictured, has been instrumental in study design, methodology and analysis of results from this large study.

Professor Hawkins has been an active and long-term member of the Consortium's Steering group contributing to the management throughout this complex project.  The Keele group supplied DNA samples from more than 800 Multiple Sclerosis patients together with considerable phenotype/genotype data collected over the previous 15 years. 

This Genome-Wide Association Study involved almost 10,000 patients worldwide, of European descent with almost 500,000 markers (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms).  This seminal study has definitively identified more than 50 genes that determine Multiple Sclerosis risk. This has greatly expanded our understanding of disease pathogenesis and, thereby opened new avenues for therapeutic intervention.
 
See: Genetic risk and a primary role for cell-mediated immune mechanisms in multiple sclerosis', Nature, 11 August 2011; 476, issue 7359: pp214-219).

DEVELOPMENTS IN EUROPEAN FUNDING

At an all-day meeting this week, members of Keele's research institutes heard about the latest developments in European funding from Emma Carey, of the UK Research Office in Brussels.

Emma outlined the latest calls for proposals under the current Framework Seven Programme and new schemes to offer support for research training through networks, fellowships and the European Research Council. She then gave interesting insights into the process by which the European Commission is designing the next research funding scheme - to be known as Horizon 2020 - and provided useful advance information about the future concept of the "Innovation Union".

Keele currently holds a range of European funding for its research projects and is well prepared to engage with the Commission's new vision for research and development. The day closed with one-to-one consultation sessions with research teams. Pictured above with Emma are Donna Sumner, Research & Enterprise Services, who chaired the day (left) and Dr Martin Pickard, Keele's European grant-writing consultant.

ROTARY EXCHANGE STUDENTS VISIT KEELE

A team of four young professionals from Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Canada, visited Keele this week with their Rotarian team leader to meet with the Vice-Chancellor and have a tour of the campus and the Keele Sustainability Hub.

The team are taking part in a four-week cultural and vocational exchange programme, sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of the West Midlands, and their host district, and will be learning more about the area, its history, culture and their respective vocations. The team, which included a police officer, probation officer, farmer and water board information officer, found the visit to Keele both informative and enjoyable. Thanks go to all colleagues involved in the visit. For more information about the exchange programme, or the other work of Rotary International, please contact Jen Paddison.

UNIQUE GENETIC PROFILE IDENTIFIED

As part of a collaborative research project, scientists at Keele and the National Institute of Health in Washington, DC, have identified a unique genetic profile associated with a rare brain tumour.

 
The tumour, pituitary in origin, was initially identified in a five-year-old child with a family history of these types of tumour.

Its surgical removal allowed the researchers to analyse more than 10,000 genes in what is known as a transcriptome analysis. 

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism shows, for the first time, a unique genetic profile associated with this family associated (familial) tumour.

Professor Bill Farrell, lead author on the paper, pictured above, says that the findings provide new insight into molecular pathways that may be exploited therapeutically for the treatment of these types of aggressive pituitary tumours.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION CONFERENCE ON AGE-FRIENDLY CITIES

Professor Chris Phillipson, School of Sociology and Criminology, pictured below, gave the opening plenary paper at the 1st international conference on age-friendly cities held in Dublin.

His paper set out some of the challenges facing cities given the impact of ageing populations.

He also outlined the basis of a strategy for securing age-friendly communities within cities.

The conference was attended by some 400 delegates, with the aim of the event being to assist implementation of the WHO goal of developing healthy and active ageing within urban environments.

KEELE CONCERTS SOCIETY NEW SEASON

The new season of Concerts at Keele begins next Wednesday (19 October) with the London Concertante giving a performance of Gypsy Strings at 7.30 pm in the Westminster Theatre, Chancellor's Building.

Tickets £14 (students £7, including a free ticket to another concert) are available from the ticket hotline 01782 717058 or on the door.

CHAPEL EVENTS

Vision @ Keele Chapel, a week of events, films, music, campaigning, artwork, comedy, workshops, debate, and spirituality, based at the University Chapel, sponsored by University chaplains and student groups, starts on Monday.

Throughout the week, the Chapel will be converted into Café Chapelle, running from 11 am till 5 pm, with a range of coffees, speciality teas, and home-made cakes; as well as a spirituality installation and the internationally acclaimed F-Word Exhibition, on loan from the Forgiveness Project.

All funds from Café Chapelle will go to the DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal.

For more information on the week please see the Chapel website here.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Twenty-eight years ago

Stars gathered at Keele for a Royal Variety Club tribute to comedian Frankie Howerd.

June Whitfield, Tim Rice, Barry Cryer and Pat Phoenix were among the show business names attending the luncheon at the University on Sunday, 16 October, 1983.

The event raised more than £2,000 for local charities.